INTERNATIONAL ROWING TURNS PROFESSIONAL Yale grads Emory Clark and Boyce Budd (coxed by John Quinn) were part of the Vesper Boat Club crew which had already won the Olympic Eights Trials on July 11. Since the Games were not until October, their coaches wanted to break up the eight into a coxed-four and two pairs and race in Amsterdam the week after the Nationals.3471 Boyce Budd: “After we decided to enter the coxed-pairs, the Amlong brothers3472 would keep repeating, ‘Oh, Findlay is just going to eat you up with 500 meters to go.’ I would hyperventilate just thinking about it. “In the race we got a bit of a lead, and we were rowing a little bit above them. Then they would take a ten, match our rate and move up almost even. When they settled back down, we would move back out. Never more than three-quarters of a length. Never lost the lead. Happened three or four times. “Then with 500 to go, I was just waiting for them to come, the Amlongs’ words ringing in my ears. I kept hearing Joe telling us they would toy with us for 1,500 meters and then sweep by. “Then I heard Kent Mitchell speaking to his guys. He said something like if they wanted to win they had to go now. I just said to myself there was no way they were going to catch us. I took it up, and we won by three-quarters of a length. “That race was really important to us, and we never would have won it without the Amlongs. We realized that if Emory and I could beat the great Conn Findlay, then maybe we could actually succeed in the eights.”3473 United Press: “The Vesper Pair-With- Coxswain withstood a fierce challenge from the defending national champion Stanford 3471 See Chapter 107. 3472 their teammates in the 1964 Vesper Olympic Eight. See Chapter 107. 3473 Budd, personal conversation, 2010 Crew Association to win by half a boat length in 7:19.8 seconds. This was better than the winning time in the 1960 Olympics. “Stanford took the Pan American Championship as well as the national crown last year.”3474 “August 1, 1964. Lost race vs. Budd/Clark – Vesper – in Nationals, so didn’t go to Europe. “Our splits: 1:46, 1:50, 1:54, 1:50. Vesper’s about the same. We stroked 40/36, 32½, 32½, 33/37, Vesper about same. Boats always overlapped, tied 3 times. We never got lead from them. “Difference was 1.8 sec: Vesper 7:19.8, Stanford 7:21.6. Next nearest competitor was 19 secs back. Vesper ineligible for Olympics in pair races since already in eight. “Good race & good trip, except for b.s. that Jack Kelly3475 generated re. who would go to [the European Championships, us or Vesper].”3476 All this resulted in additional stress for the Lake Washington Pair. During the entire trip back East, Conn and Ed were barely speaking to one another. Blows had even been exchanged in the car . . . while driving! Ferry: “Conn Findlay is the most remarkable man I have ever known. Inner- directed and ornery. “Don’t forget ornery!!! “A pair is a team sport like all crews, but it is also a daily competition to pull as hard as or harder than your partner. This engenders antagonism and stubbornness . . . and Conn rowed a pair for nine years!”3477 The following week, fresh off the plane from the U.S., Budd, Clark and Quinn placed only fourth in their heat on the 3474 United Press, August 1, 1964 3475 Head of Vesper Boat Club. See Chapter 107. 3476 Mitchell Journal 3477 Ferry, op. cit. 957
